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copy 2 mia’s Rights, Hopes 
and Aspirations 



The Strength of the 
National Consciousness 
of the Albanian People 
















;D<35l 
, ASlD^t 

To His Excellency , 

WOODROW WILSON, 
President of the United States, 
Washington, D. C, 

Excellency : * 

In view of the fact “that the present 
war had its roots in the disregard of 
the rights of small nations and nation- 
alities”; in view of the fact that the 
Allied Powers are determined to effect 
a settlement in the Balkans on the lines 
which will clear up the past issues; and 
hoping that the time to take up such 
problems is not far distant, we take 
the honor to forward you, Excellency, 
the following statement regarding Alba- 
nia’s rights, hopes and aspirations, and 
humbly beg your Excellency to take 
the honorable burden of using the in 
flunce of your noble nation at the Peace 
Conference, to defend the vital interests 
of our friendless nation, as theyarestated 
in the enclosed memorandum. 

We have the honor, Excellency, to remai n. 
Your most obedient servants, 
(Mrs.) Christo A. Dako 

Dhimitri Bala, Secretary . 

*The following statement is the text of the 
memorandum sent to His Excellency Woodrow 
Wilson, President of the United States, to the 
State Department, and to the Foreign office of 
all the great Allies, October 12, 1918. 





















































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Albania’s Rights, 

Hopes and Aspirations 

\ 

I T is admitted today as an historical 
fact that the Albanian people is 
the most ancient, the most com- 
pact, the most homogeneous, and the 
most important factor of all the Balkan 
nations. His origin and his strong nation- 
al consciousness, that of being Albanian 
by race, language, customs and feeling, 
distinguish him entirely from the neigh- 
boring races, and give him that proper 
individuality, which enabled him to 
resist for centuries all endeavours of 
being denationalized and assimilated. 

The history of Albania is a long 
record of chivalrous struggle, not only 
to safeguard her integrity and indepen- 
dence, but also to hinder the barbarians 
from carrying on their invasion any 
farther into Europe. Two great his- 
torical events illustrate this. In ancient 
times, Alexander the Great saved 
Europe from the Persian invasion; in 
medieval times Scanderbeg fought the 
3 


Turks for 40 years, when they were in 
the climax of their conquering power, 
thus insuring peaceful times for the 
western nations and enabling them to 
reach their present stage of civilization 
and learning. 

It is true that during certain periods 
of its history, Albania was forced to 
acknowledge a certain amount of for- 
eign, nominal domination, but she never 
consented to renounce entirely her 
sovereignty, never consented to give 
up her national aspirations; her sub- 
mission being only temporary and ap- 
parent. This is evident from the many 
revolutions which followed one after 
another, at very short intervals, with 
the purpose of regaining her complete 
freedom; but the European Powers, for 
selfish motives refused to recognize her 
independence more than once. In 1876, 
when it became evident that the Otto- 
man rule was to leave the Balkan 
Peninsula, the British Government 
strove to create a strong, independent 
Albania, including within her boundaries 
Kosova, Scutari, Janina, and part of 
Monastir vilayet. Lord Goschen and 
Lord E. Fitzmaurice, both foreseeing 
the importance of the Albanian question, 
4 


worked hard for this end. Had th e 
succeeded, many of the recent compli- 
cations and much blood and misery 
would have been obviated. But un- 
fortunately the Powers could not come 
to an agreement, so they contented 
themselves merely with a recommenda- 
tion for certain administrative reforms 
for the Turkish Provinces, which were 
never put into practice. 

In 1878 Albania presented her legiti- 
mate claims to the Congress of Berlin, 
asking that her territorial integrity be 
•safeguarded and her independence recog- 
nized; but Bismarck with his brutal 
disregard of facts which did not suit 
him, rejected to consider them, saying 
— what Metternich had said a few 
decades before in regard to Italy — 
“There is no Albanian nationality! ” 

The frontiers drawn by the Treaty 
of Berlin were impossible; in some place 
they could not be defined, in many 
other places they floated on blood. 
The Albanian League proved, even 
while the representatives of Europe 
were still sitting around the table of 
peace, that they were wrong; and a 
few weeks later, after thousands of 
lives had been wasted, they receded 


from the position they had taken in 
ignorance and acknowledged that both 
Scutari and Janina, the first coveted by 
Montenegro, and the latter by Greece 
were Albanian territories, as well as 
Monastir and Uskup. 

Nobody can fail today to see that the 
common action undertaken by the 
Balkan Allies against Turkey in 1912- 
1913 was a continuation of the Albanian 
uprisings of 1909-1912, and that their 
success undoubtedly was the fruit of a 
struggle for liberty in which the Al- 
banians by their continued insurrections, 
and by their indefatigable irredentisme 
distinguished themselves most valiantly. 
We naturally expected, therefore, a 
fair treatment at the Peace Conference 
of 1913, where the national rights of 
Albania were stoutly defended by Sir 
E. Grey, but in spite of all these, the 
Powers drew a rough and most unjust 
and unfortunate frontier, by which the 
gallant people who had borne the 
brunt of the fight for freedom in 1909- 
1912, were awarded to Montenegro, 
Serbia and Greece and the guilt of 
handing over these Albanian districts 
to be butchered and exterminated, 
rests primarily with Tsarist Russia. 

6 


But this was not enough. Some of 
the Great Powers, just when they 
were putting their signatures for the 
recognition of the Albanian nationality 
and for the independence of their 
country, advised the Serbian and Greek 
Governments to defy the decisions of 
the European Concert. Greece, en- 
couraged by this advice, refused to 
evacuate southern Albania and at once 
organized the disguised movement, 
which they like to call Epirotian, 
against the Albanian Government. This 
criminal movement, supported in every 
way by our neighbors, and carried on 
by the unscrupulous Essad Pasha, was 
the chief cause of the dissolution of 
the newly born Albanian state. Inci- 
dently we wish to call the attention 
of the Governments of the Allied 
Powers, that Essad Pasha, to every 
right-minded Albanian, is as dangerous 
a man to united Albania, as another 
Pasha was to France, because of his 
persistent efforts toward a division or 
separation of our country for personal 
ambition, to the effect of creating a 
limited state out of central Albania and 
becoming its ruler, while allowing the 
northern and southern parts of the 
7 


country to be sucked in by the greed y 
neighbors, the Serbians and the Greeks. 

Soon greater events followed, washing 
in blood the boundaries drawn by the 
London Conference and by the Bu- 
charest Treaty, thus showing once more 
that it is not safe to underestimate the 
weight of the ethnographic element in 
drawing the frontiers of any country. 

Albania’s earnest desire is to become 
an element of order and peace in the 
Balkan Peninsula; but for this it is- 
absolutely necessary that her national 
unity, which was sacredly safeguarded 
and conserved during so many cen- 
turies of struggle, must be consecrated 
by the restoration of Albania, and by 
such a readjustment of her frontiers — 
and the necessity for such a readjust- 
. ment is acknowledged today by every- 
body — as will insure her future 
existence and her free development. 
The restoration of Albania cannot pos- 
sibly have another political status,, 
except that of an independent state, 
politically and economically, for only 
under such a status will she be free of 
all foreign intrigues. 

It has been amply proved that a 
mixed Commission of Control is not 


8 


•only useless, but even embarrassing, 
not to say dangerous, as the Commis- 
sioners work for their respective coun- 
tries and not for Albania. Greece and 
Bulgaria when first liberated, were 
■given strong moral assistance and finan- 
cial aid till they were able to stand 
alone. “Impartial, justice” requests 
that Albania should receive similar 
treatment. 

The Albanian people inspired by 
local necessities, by sentiments of friend- 
ship towards the neighboring nations, 
and being assured that this great war, 
■on the part of the Allies, is not a war 
■of conquest, but a war of liberation, 
and that all issues involved will be 
settled by definitely and unequivocally 
accepting the principle that “the in- 
terest of the weakest is as sacred as the 
interest of the strongest,” asks, for the 
sake of tranquility and peace, that the 
future boundary must rest upon geo- 
graphical and ethnographical consider- 
ations, impartially applied for all the 
parties concerned. To leave or put 
Albanian territory and people under 
foreign domination is to perpetuate the 
germs of discord and of trouble in the 
Balkans. It is for these reasons that 


9 


the Albanian nation claims her natural 
boundaries, which are imposed not only 
by ethnographic and geographic reasons, 
but also by the right of being the first 
inhabitants of the country. We are 
convinced that the vigilant goodwill and 
the sense of '‘impartial justice to all 
nations,” which animate the Allied 
Powers will see that this fundamental 
principle is scrupulously applied. The 
boundary which we legitimately claim 
includes, with the respective hinder- 
lands, the following towns: Scutari, 
Ipek, Mitrovitza, Prishtina, Uskup, 
Monastir, Metzova, Janina and Preveza, 
and the highlands of Plava, Gusinja, 
Hoti and Gruda. 

The Montenegrins and Serbians have 
been forced in this direction through 
the fault of Austro-Hungary, which has 
debarred them from their lawful outlet 
to the south Slavonic coast. Had the 
Montenegrins and Serbians been at 
liberty to reach the sea through Cattaro 
and Dalmatia, they would never have 
tried to reach it through Shkodra, San 
Giovanni di Medua and Durazzo, by 
subjugating an Albanian population 
almost as numerous as their own. The 
thoroughly non-Slavic character of 
10 


Kosovo, “Old Serbia,” can be seen by 
the following impartial testimonies. 

Miss Durham says, “Kosovoplain is 
now by a very large majority Moslem 
Albanian . . . Albanian predominance is 
proved by the fact that so far as my 
experience goes, and I tried repeatedly > 
the Albanians are almost solely Albano- 
phone, whereas the scattered Serbs 
usually speak both languages, and when 
addressed in Serbian, often replied at 
first in Albanian.” 

Mr. N. H. Brailsford speaking on the 
same subject says, “In the two districts 
of Prizrend and Ipek there are no more 
than 5,000 Serbian householders, against 
20,000 or 25,000 Albanian families. In 
all ‘Old Serbia’ there are as many 
Serbian families as there are Albanian 
families in Ipek and Prizrend alone.” 

Mr. Gabriel Louis Jaray, speaking 
in his book “L’Albanie Inconue,” of the 
ethnography of Northern Albania says, 
“Prizrend, Ipek and Jakova are par 
excellence Albanian towns.” 

Besides, there is a traditional feud 
between the Servians and the Albanians 
which would render the peaceable ad- 
ministration of the country under a 
Serbian hegemony impossible. Far 
11 


from considering them as his superiors, 
in culture, the Albanians have learned 
to despise and to exploit them as his- 
villeins. 

It is said that the famous plain of 
Kosovo must be given to Serbia, for 
the Serbs have a sentimental claim, as 
it was there that the Serbian kingdom 
was finally defeated, and the Tzar 
Lazar slain by the Sultan Murad on 
June 15, 1389. But the Albanians have 
also a sentimental claim to the field,, 
for not only did a contingent of them 
fight against the Turks, as allies of 
the Serbs, but Kara Mahmoud Pasha 
• of Shkodra, the semi-independent ruler 
of northern Albania, defeated the 
Sultan’s army there in 1786. 

The Hellenic Kingdom is at enmity 
with Albania because European diplo- 
macy deprived her of her islands and 
of her Asia Minor coast: so she has. 
been forced to lay claims upon a land 
which neither geographically nor ethno- 
graphically belongs to Greece. The 
fact that “Epirus” geographically be- 
longs to Albania can be easily verified 
by everybody who can examine a 
map. The rivers of Epirus all empty- 
into the Adriatic on the Albanian. 


12 


coast. Besides, the majority of de- 
population is Moslem Albanian, while 
the Christian minority, though members 
of the Orthodox Church, is Greek 
neither by race, language or sentiment. 
The Christian inhabitants of southern 
Epirus are “Greeks” only in the .sense 
that the Romanians, the Bulgarians, 
and the Serbians were Greeks a century 
ago, when they had the misfortune too, 
of being under the jurisdiction of the 
Orthodox Church of Constantinople. 
In fact, all of them are Albanian by 
blood, language, customs and feeling, 
and for centuries have proved to be 
impossible of assimilation. 

The thoroughly non-Greek character 
of Epirus can be seen by the following 
testimonies: Edward Brerewood, writ- 
ing in 1625, says, “But at this day the 
Greek tongue is very much decayed, 
not only as touching the largenesse and 
vulgarnesse of it, but also on elegance 
of language. For as touching the 
former, the natural languages of the 
countries have usurped upon it so, that 
parts in which Greek is spoken at this 
day are, in a few words, but these: 
Eirst, Greece itself — excepting Epirus 
and the part west of Macedonia . . . 

13 


likewise in the isles west of Candie, and 
along the coast of Epirus and Corfu.” 

Viscountess Strangford, travelling in 
1863, states, “We started on June l r 
intending to make Janina, the capital 
of Southern Albania, our farthest 
point ... As we had divided upon the 
plain into three or four different parts,, 
the first thing to be done when we had 
reached Del vino, was to find each 
other; but this was not accomplished 
until we had wandered far and wide,, 
loudly shouting and inquiring from 
every man, woman, and child we could 
see. We were decidedly in difficulties, 
for it was the hour of the midday 
sleep, and our inquiries were made in 
Greek, while the seeming answers were 
given in Albanian, neither party in the 
least understanding the other.” 

Greece is trying to lay claims to 
Southern Albania, just as she has 
tried in the past to acquire wide tracts 
of Slavonic lands by classing all mem- 
bers of the Orthodox Church as “Greek.” 
Rome with equal justice might claim 
all English, French, and American 
Catholics, as Italians. 

Another objection mentioned against 
the Greek unjust claim upon Southern AF 
14 


bania is the following: It would rob 
Albania of its most progressive and 
enlightened element. Mr. N. H. Brails- 
ford speaking on this point says, “An 
Albania, which included Epirus would 
already contain a considerable popula- 
tion on a relatively high level of civili- 
zation which might be trusted to leaven 
the whole mass.” 

Setting aside their heroes of anti- 
quity, Alexander the Great, Pyrrhus, 
the king of Epirus, the Ptolemies of 
Egypt » Emperor Diocletian of Rome, 
Constantine the Great, etc. — the mod- 
ern Albanians have shown in Turkey, 
Italy, Greece, Roumania and elsewhere, 
that they can produce statesmen. They 
have given the reigning dynasty to 
Egypt founded by Mehmet Ali, the 
famous soldier and statesman, who 
played, in the nineteenth century, so 
great a part in the history of Egypt and 
indeed of Europe. The Kiipruli family, 
who furnished the Sultans with three 
Grand Vizers, was from Albania. The 
troops with which Mustapha Bairactar 
opposed and quelled the Janissarries 
were principally Albanian. The fa- 
mous Galip, commonly called Patrona, 
was Albanian. This man, though a 


common seaman and a pedlar, headed 
the insurrection of 1730, in which 
Sultan Ahmet III was dethroned, and 
with a success of which neither ancient 
nor modern history can furnish another 
instance, remained for three weeks ab- 
solute master of Constantinople. 

The fact that for fifteen months the 
Albanian people, struggling with innu- 
merable difficulties, had been able to 
maintain order and tranquility without 
any organized police force, during the 
Provisional Government, in a country 
harassed on all sides by enemies, who 
have sworn its destruction, speaks 
loudly that they are capable of self- 
government. Miss M. E. Durham, 
who has traveled widely in Albania, 
in her recent book, “The Struggle for 
Scutari,” speaking on the subject says, 
“The Powers were now treating Al- 
bania badly. They neither appointed 
any Government, nor recognized any 
local one, and people knew not to whom 
to look. They were for the most part 
terrified of offending Europe by recog- 
nizing any native as head of Albania. 
But the local headman was keeping 
excellent order. The patience with 
which a whole people, placed in a most 
16 


difficult and almost unprecedented 
position, went on with their daily affairs 
quietly, has not been sufficiently rec- 
ognized. While I was riding about the 
burnt districts I was always unarmed, 
was frequently with men I had never 
seen before, and everyone knew I had 
at least Lt. 200 in gold in the bag at my 
belt. Men by the wayside would call 
out to me: “Where are you taking the 
money today? Come to our village next/’ 
But no attempt of any sort was ever 
made, either to take it from me, or to 
force me to change my route. I often 
wondered whether similar sums could 
be safely carried through England, 
supposing all police withdrawn, and the 
Government entirely done away with,” 

The above instances show r that there 
need be no fear that capable ipen will 
be wanting in Albania. Under a wise 
and strong national constitutional gov- 
ernment, with a good system, of educa- 
tion, and an iron discipline the Al- 
banians are capable of great develop- 
ment, and their strongly marked racial 
and linguistic unity would give them a 
strength, which not all the other races 
of the Balkan Peninsula possess. 

The Albanian nation has given suffi- 


17 


cient proofs of its liberal conceptions 
in the field of public and political 
affairs. Amongst us, the national in- 
terest has always predominated our 
religious considerations. In Albania, 
people are ranged, ranked and valued 
not according to their creed, age or 
birth, but according to the depth of 
their patriotic feeling, for an Albanian 
is before all else proudly an Albanian. 
In their view the highest nobility and 
the best religion is to love and write 
and cultivate their tongue and their 
nationality. 

The best instance to illustrate his 
liberal attitude towards his neighboring 
races is the confidence shown from time 
immemorial, by the Wallachs, which 
confidence was expressed by them dur- 
ing the London Conference, to asso- 
ciate their political life with that of the 
Albanians. 

These are in short Albania’s rights, 
hopes and aspirations; and today the 
civilized nations of the world, who are 
fighting for the great and sacred prin- 
ciple of nationality, have a chance to 
pay their indebtedness to the oldest 
nation of Europe, by rendering unto 
her what, by all tokens of history and 
18 


nationality, is hers for more than 4000 
years. This measure of “impartial 
justice” accorded to us, will be of 
advantage, not only for ourselves, but 
also for those who sought for their own 
aggrandizement in our destruction. 

SEVASTI K. DAKO, 
President of the Albanian National Party . 

DIMITRI BALA, Secretary. 


19 


The Strength of the 
National Consciousness 
of the Albanian People 


Recently articles have been published 
in the New England papers on Albania, 
either by persons that do not know much 
concerning our country and people, or 
with the intention of misleading the 
American public. Some of the writers 
have dared to make the statement that 
the Albanian nation lacks national con- 
sciousness , therefore, they say. the Al- 
banians do not deserve self-government, 
and the Peace Conference, to put an end 
to this war, will do well to divide their 
country between the Greeks and the Ser- 
bians. 

A short review of historical facts will 
fully prove that the statement above 
referred to is entirely false, and their 
opinion of dividing Albania, is not only 
erroneous but even a dangerous one for 
the peace of the Balkans. 

Through the conquests of Alexander 
the Great; the Greek language, being 
20 


a more cultivated language and possess- 
ing a literature, was adopted as a general 
means of intercourse between the differ- 
ent nations of his wide Empire, which ex- 
tended over the three continents then 
known, Europe, Asia and Africa. 

Niebuhr speaking of the hellenizing 
effect of the Greek language says, that 
Asia Minor began to be hellenized while 
as yet few Greeks have settled among 
them. 

It is true that in Macedonia, Epirus 
and Illyria the Greek language was im- 
ported even earlier than this date ; and 
it is clear that in the days of Philip the 
Great and Pyrrhus, the courtiers, gen- 
erals and statesmen conversed in Greek,, 
wrote in Greek and cultivated Greek 
literature; but this fact did not affect 
the people either socially or politically;: 
they guarded intact, not only their lan- 
guage — which bears no affinity with 
either of the various dialects of the 
Greek — but also their customs, usages 
and social, civil and military organiza- 
tions. 

Moreover, our ancestors, the Illyrians,, 
the Macedonians and the Epirotes have 
not shown any sympathy for the Greeks. 
Two great historical events illustrate 
21 


this. When the Persians started to fight 
Greece and when all the tribes of Greece 
united to fight the enemy, not only did 
the Macedonians, Epirotes and Illyrians 
refuse to join them; but they even be- 
came allies of the Persians in their war 
against Greece. 

On the return of the Epirotes from 
Italy, in 274 B. C. Pyrrhus defeated An- 
tigonus and became ruler of Macedonia 
and Epirus combined, though on his 
death the former revolted, and Alexan- 
der, son of Pyrrhus, now their king, de- 
clared war. From this epoch there fol- 
lowed an alternation of union and dis- 
union between the two people, of greater 
or short duration ; but neither had re- 
course to Greece with a view of annexa- 
tion or of alliance. 

But there is still another series of facts 
in favor of our opinion, viz., first, that 
while the Macedonians, Epirotes and 
Illyrians intermarried among themselves, 
they never did so with the Greeks ; and 
second, the fact that the Macedonians, 
Epirotes and Illyrians were not mem- 
bers of the Amphictyonic council, which 
was the political and religious center of 
all the Greek tribes. 

When the Romans, irritated by Per 


seus, declared war, no application was 
made to the Greek republics for aid. 
This proves that the alliance, which had 
existed under Philip, by his admission 
into the Amphictionic council was purely 
personal and political. This had ceased 
with his death and the prior state of 
things had resumed its sway. On the 
other hand the Epirotes and Illyrians 
who were Macedonians in race, language 
and sentiment, rushed as one man to the 
aid of Perseus and were involved in the 
common ruin which followed the defeat 
of Pydna. Macedonia was divided into 
four provinces, under Roman supremacy, 
while Epirus was devastated, its inhab- 
itants reduced to slavery, and its ruler 
Gentius carried to Rome to adorn the 
triumph of the conqueror. 

The Roman Empire sent over large 
numbers of Roman citizens to colonize 
the country and to assimilate the inhabi- 
tants of the three Albanian provinces; 
and although Albania remained under 
their rule for a period of about six cen- 
turies, the Roman conquest and civiliza- 
tion wrought but little influence in the 
social condition of the Albanians. They 
still retained their language and their 
national manners and usages, and re- 
23 


mained a distinct people with a distinct 
national consciousness. 

After the death of Theodosius the 
Great, in 395 A. D., the Roman Empire 
was divided between his two sons, Hon- 
orius and Arcadius. The latter took the 
Eastern Empire, of which Albania be- 
came a part, included in the Illyrian 
prefecture. 

The importance of the Byzantine cul- 
ture and literature, in the history of the 
world is beyond dispute. They not only 
guarded for more than a thousand years 
the intellectual heritage of antiquity, 
but also called into life a peculiar medie- 
val culture and literature of their own. 
They communicated the treasures of the 
old pagan as well as of their own Chris- 
tian literature to all neighboring nations, 
especially through the Greek Church. 
Finally the learned men of the dying By- 
zantin Empire, fleeing from the barbar- 
ians (the Turks), transplanted the treas- 
ures of the Hellenic wisdom to the West, 
and thereby fertilized the Western peo- 
ples with genius of culture. 

An important group of these emigrants 
settled in the village of Moskopolis , in 
the district of Kortcha, Albania, and 
thus the little village became a town of 
24 


60,000-70,000 inhabitants and for 350 
years it boasted a famous school, a pub- 
lic library and a printing press. 

The fact which we wish to emphasize 
is, that while this powerful Byzantine 
culture and civilization came in contact 
daily with the Albanian people for a per- 
iod of 14 centuries, it did not influence 
them much. 

Beginning with the year 276 A. D., 
Albania was successively invaded by the 
Goths, the Huns, the Serbs, the Bulgars- 
and the Normans for a period of 12 cen- 
turies, but the influence wrought by all 
these upon the Albanian people amounts 
to almost nothing; they left as souve- 
nirs of their incursions only a few' geo- 
graphical names. 

In 1478 Albania became and remained 
till 1912 a part of the Turkish Empire, 
who inaugurated a system of oppression 
and persecution and deprived the Al- 
banian people of the sacred right to edu- 
cate themselves in their own language, 
while the foreign propaganda and in- 
trigue had a wide open door and a free 
hand to divide and denationalize the Al- 
banian nation. Special note must be 
made concerning the privilege given to 
the Greek Orthodox Church to organize 
25 


“Greek communities ” or “milets" out of 
the other nationalities which professed 
the Greek Orthodox religion. And for 
many years the Hellenic kingdom has 
thrown dust in the eyes of Europe b>r 
confusing Greek religion with the Greek 
nationality and has prejudiced the na- 
tional cause of Albania by adopting and 
making her own Stamboul fashion of 
calling the Albanians who profess Ma- 
homedanism, Turks, and those who pro- 
fess Orthodoxy, Greeks. 

In 1878 at the Congress of Berlin, the 
Greeks advanced claims to annex South- 
ern Albania; but the Albanians rose like 
one man against their ill-founded and 
unjust pretentions and saved their land 
from their greed. 

But the Greeks did not give up their 
hope, and after years of unscrupulous 
religious and political intrigue, in 1897 
declared war on Turkey with the purpose 
of getting Southern Albania, believing 
that its inhabitants now will welcome 
their army as liberators; but were bit- 
terly deceived in their expectations. 
E. M. Vogue, an eye witness, speaking 
of the Greek campaign of 1897 in South- 
ern Albania says, “En Epire levene- 
merit n’a pas mieux justify les esperances* 
26 


des liberateurs. Les soldats du colonel 
Manos se sont avances sur la route de 
Janina, ils y ont fait entendre le cri d’in- 
dependance: aucun echo n’a repondu 
sur un sol jalousement garde par des Al- 
banais. Ces clans difiants et beliqueux 
tolerent par habitude la suzerainete du 
Turc, ils ne recevront la loi d’aucun autre 
maitre; et on ne plaisante pas avec les 
Albanais. Les vieux Epirotes de Pyrr- 
hus et d’Alexandre, d’Ali de Tepeleni et 
de Mehmet Ali n’ont pas d6genere: ils 
restent les incomparables sergents qui 
assure rent la victoire et maintinrent la 
domination de tous les conquetants 
orientaux.” 

In 1912-1913 the Greeks were forced 
to recognize that the inhabitants of 
Southern Albania were Albanians by 
race, language and customs; but they 
based their claims on the assumption 
that they were Greeks by feeling, adding 
that the sentiment is the decisive factor 
in matter of nationality. 

The events that followed demonstrate 
ed fully that the inhabitants of Southern 
Albania are, as the rest of them, Al- 
banians not only by race, language and 
customs, but by sentiment also . If they 
were truly Greek by feeling why did 300,- 


000-400,000 of them flee before the Greek 
army when they illegally invaded South- 
ern Albania in 1914, just a few months 
before the outbreak of the European war, 
and went to starve under the olive trees 
of Valona? If they were truly Greeks by 
feeling, why did the Greek army mas- 
sacre so many of those who could not 
get away, and why did they devastate 
the whole country? 

Not only the inhabitants of Albania 
itself could not be persuaded either by 
political oppression, or by religious in- 
trigue, or by foreign propaganda of civil- 
ization and culture to abandon their 
national characteristics and national con- 
sciousness; but even those who emigra- 
ted into foreign countries did not do so, 
as it may be seen by the survival for cen- 
turies of the Albanian colonies in Cala- 
bria, Italy, and Attica, Greece. 

But what do all these historical facts 
mean? Do they mean that the Alban- 
ians are incapable of civilization and 
• progress? No. They simply tell us that 
the Albanian nation held itself always 
distinct from its neighbours, neither 
sharing their sympathies nor their aver- 
sions. They tell us that the Albanians 
have rejected with an equal impartiality 


the civilization of Greece, Rome, and 
Byzantium. Moreover they tell us that 
the Albanians have always considered 
the Greeks and the Slavs as their here- 
ditary enemies. They demonstrate that 
the Albanian nation is of a stock with 
strong national consciousness that of 
being Albanian by race, language, cus- 
toms and feeling, and therefore impos- 
sible to be assimilated; while they are 
keenly desirous to develop a civilization 
of their own; and their eagerness for 
civilization, culture and progress can be 
easily grasped if we only remember that 
during the first year of the Young Turk- 
ish regime , the Albanians held four na- 
tional congresses, founded 66 national 
clubs, opened 34 day schools and 24 
night schools, founded 15 literary so- 
cieties and three musical societies, es- 
tablished four printing presses and 
issued eleven newspapers; • in other 
words they took all necessary measures 
for the enlightenment and uplift of the 
nation in their own way. 

In view of these facts it is erroneous 
to say that the Albania nation lacks 
national consciousness. On the con- 
trary the Albanian nation gives us a 
unique example of how a small nation 
29 


without a written literature, without any 
schools and churches of her own, sur- 
rounded by so many and powerful foreign 
•civilizations, which endeavored to force 
themselves in, and politically oppressed 
for so many centuries, resisted success- 
fully and survived them all. 

It is not too much to say therefore 
that the National consciousness of the 
Albanian nation is, at least, stronger 
than that of the other Balkan nations. 

Mr. N. H. Brailsford speaking of the 
strength of the national consciousness 
of the Albanian people says, “Here at 
length is a race which neither religion 
nor education can corrupt. ” 

Christo A. Dako 


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